Both sides in Syria's civil war hate us, so why help either one?

Your article about Marylanders of Syrian descent imploring the U.S. government to provide humanitarian aid and arms to the Free Syrian Army correctly cited President Bashar Assad's ruthless attacks on his civilian opponents ("Marylanders helping cause in their Syrian homeland," July 7).

Yet the report completely ignored the horrific slaughter of Christians by radical Islamist members of the FSA, whose stated goal is not just the ouster of Mr. Assad, but the imposition of strict Sharia law in Syria.

Sharia law allows absolutely no religious diversity and condemns Christians to conversion or death. Even Mr. Assad allowed Christians to worship.

The two most egregious examples of FSA's actions were the massacre of dozens of Christians in the al-Duvair village on the outskirts of Homs in late May, and the abduction and murder of Syrian Catholic Father Francois Murad and two other priests last week in the town of Gassanieh.

A video of the priests' murders was released on Islamic networks. It showed the rebels surrounded by a cheering mob of FSA sympathizers. There are innumerable reports of targeted murders, rapes and beheadings of Christians throughout Syria by the FSA. Those people weren't Assad loyalists but were merely trying to practice their religious beliefs.

Where is the coverage of these murders in The Sun and other "mainstream" media outlets?

There is no moral justification for any American intervention that benefits the FSA. Nor is there any rational strategic reason to help a group whose publicly stated philosophy is antithetical to U.S. interests. The Islamists' stated goal is the destruction of Western civilization and all non-Muslim religions.

The U.S. did not support to the Stalin-backed Communist rebels in Spain in 1936 who fought against the fascist government of General Francisco Franco's government and his Nazi allies. Before leaping into yet another foreign entanglement supporting groups who hate our country, let's study the history of the past 75 years and let the opposing sides in Syria figure it out for themselves — without the U.S. overtly supporting either of these two undesirable factions.